Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Six More Women Say They Were Sexually Harassed By Roger Ailes
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 9, 2016
Modified Jul 9, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Getty Images
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 9, 2016
Modified Jul 9, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Following Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson's allegations from earlier this week that she'd been fired from the station after rebuffing sexual advances from CEO Roger Ailes, at least a dozen more women have contacted Carlson's attorney claiming they too were harassed by Ailes. Six of these women shared their stories with NY Mag, and they are harrowing indeed: one woman even says Ailes once pulled out his genitals, which were "red like raw hamburger," and asked her to kiss them when she was only 16 years old.
NY Mag interviewed Kellie Boyle, a former Republican National Committee field adviser; Marsha Callahan, a former model; and four women who wished to remain anonymous, all of whom say they were harassed by Ailes while trying to get a job from him. Boyle told the publication that Ailes blacklisted her when she was supposed to sign a major contract with the National Republican Congressional Committee in 1989. "[H]e said, ‘You know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys,'" she said. "[H]e said, ‘Well you might have to give a blowjob every once in a while.’"
Callahan says that in the late 1960s Ailes told her she'd have to sleep with "me and a few of my select friends" if she wanted to be featured on The Mike Douglas Show. And a 66-year-old former model who also tried to get on the show says she had a particularly horrifying experience with him:
I was 16 years old living in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I was sent over for a walk-on part on The Mike Douglas Show in the winter of 1967. It was 6:30 in the evening and the place was totally closing up. Ailes took me into this big office and locked the door with a key. He reclined on a couch in a seating area under a map that had flags of all the cities they were syndicated in. He proceeded to pull down his pants and very gingerly pull out his genitals and said, “Kiss them.” And they were red like raw hamburger. He was pretty meticulously dressed, with long white shirttails coming out. It was like he was just at the end of a long day and I was supposed to know what to do. I was a kid, I’d never seen a man’s privates before. I jumped up, but the door is locked and nobody’s out there. He chased me around the office and at some point it dawned on him that this just wasn’t going to happen. He finally pulled up his trousers. He was very angry and rushed over to his desk, pulled open a door and had a reel-to-reel tape recorder going. He said to me, ‘Don’t tell anybody about this. I’ve got it all on tape.’ I think he knew I was sixteen.
A former TV producer alleges that when she was in her 20s, Ailes made it clear to her that "If you want to make it in New York City in the TV business, you’re going to have to fuck me, and you’re going to do that with anyone I tell you to;" another says she was forced to perform a sexual act with Ailes, and another says he forced her to kiss him and said that "no girls get a job here unless they’re cooperative."
According to Carlson's lawsuit against Ailes, he told her, "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better"; told her she was a "man hater" when she complained that her Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy treated her poorly; and demoting her to a lower-marketed show with a lower pay rate. Ailes says Carlson's allegations are false, and filed to move the suit to arbitration yesterday. "It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue. The latest allegations, all 30 to 50 years old, are false," Ailes attorney, Barry Asen, said in a statement.
Tagged
fox news
gretchen carlson
roger ailes
sexual harassment
Rebecca Fishbein
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Forest Hills Stadium can keep its concerts under deal with neighbors
Neighbors had complained of traffic and loud concerts for years.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 2:49 p.m. ET
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
NYPD arrests 17-year-old in fatal Midtown subway platform shooting
By
Charles Lane
Ex-Adams aide accused of pocketing kickbacks from community program funds
By
Samantha Max
MTA to begin 6-year project to upgrade signal tech on A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .